Harking back to our own school days we will fondly remember being tasked with selling books of raffle tickets, pestering the neighbours & relatives with sponsorship forms and asking our parents to produce cakes and quiches for sale in the school PTA bazaar, all whilst watching one of the 4 TV channels, playing outside on bikes & building dens out of sticks…

Times have, of course, changed and we as the Parents and Friends Association (PFA) of BVC now need to compete with hectic lives, unimaginable technology and frankly more TV channels and entertainment offerings than you could shake the aforementioned stick at!

Now here is the sensible bit – the role of the PFA is important and by carrying out a whole host of activities, events and fund raisers we have helped the school fund items such as laptops, stage lighting, cookery equipment, technology tools and Library furniture, as well as improving the overall facilities and experience for the students at BVC.

As we adapt to the new rules that govern how we can communicate with you as parents and as we respond to your feedback that you have perhaps grown weary of the raffle ticket and cake combinations that have been our staple source of income, we now want to ask you to join with us and change how we do this.

We are therefore asking you to consider setting up a Standing Order for a regular small donation each month to help us continue to support the school and allow us to invest in areas that we know will continue to hugely benefit the students and support the teaching staff in helping BVC be the best school it can possibly be.

A donation of just £2 a month, the price of a cup of coffee, will collectively make a huge difference!

In return, we will endeavour not to darken your door with any requests for raffle prizes, Xmas wrapping paper, cakes, tea towel orders or any activity with the word ‘thon’ in it again!

So, if you think that this is a better way of us working together to support the school and the education of our children then please set up a Standing Order through your on-line banking facilities (please reference as a Donation)

What Do We Do?

We are a registered charity and remain an important fundraiser for the school, providing money for facilities our children would otherwise not have.

Staff apply to the PFA outlining their request for funding, and we review every request collectively before approving the release of any money.

Some of the items we hope to provide for the school this year include:

Defibrillator at £600

Table Tennis Table at £250

Drama and Art: presentation boards at £250;

Humanities: RE textbooks at £200

Physics equipment: Microscope viewer cameras at £70 each

Upgrade of performance facilities in main hall: lighting desk at £1,100;

Outdoor table tennis tables at £2000 each

Renovation of toilets at £10,000

How Can You Get Involved?

We need help organising and creating events. We need people with ideas and we need people who can put these ideas into action.

Do you have local contacts that could help? Do you have a band who’d like to play at an event? Do you have a bouncy castle or outdoor games that could be used to help raise money? Are you great at baking or good at making things? Can you donate raffle prizes? Does your company run match funding? There are so many ways people can help, we’d love to speak to you and get you involved.

We also need people to help run events, man coffee stalls and sell tickets. We need volunteers to join our meetings to help review our progress and allocate funds against requests. To help us communicate effectively with interested people and to generate partnerships that support the school.

If you would like to join us, please give us your name and contact details and let us know how you’d like to help. You can contact us through our Facebook page www.facebook.com/BVCPFA; email pfa@bassingbournvc.net or call the school 01763 242344